Saints 2018 fixtures

St Helens will open their Super League campaign in front of the Sky cameras next season against last year’s table toppers Castleford.

The fixtures for Super League XXIII were revealed this morning, with Saints starting their campaign at home on February 2.

Saints will host the Good Friday derby on March 30, and take on Widnes at the Halton Stadium three days later.

Next season, there is not a second ‘double-round’ weekend, which came under fire earlier this year.

Sky Sports will continue to show two games a week and following feedback from supporters, media and clubs, there will now be an earlier kick-off time of 7.45pm for all televised Thursday and Friday night matches.

Next season will be the fourth under the Super-8s format, which means the final seven fixtures of the season won’t be known until the end of July.

After 23 rounds, the league splits, with top-eight playing each other again in a battle for a top-four play-offs spots, with the bottom-four peeling away to form a Qualifiers division with the Championship’s top-four.

The number of home games in the Super-8s depends on the finishing position after 23 rounds.

Those positioned 1st to 4th, and 9th and 10th, get four home games; the other sides get three.